CSO: Longford town has second highest number of travellers nationally

Longford town has the second highest number of travellers in the country after Tuam according to the latest CSO figures.

There were 730 travellers living in Longford town in April 2016 – making it the second largest centre of Irish Travellers in Ireland in towns with a population of 1,500 or more. There were 737 in Tuam.

The statistics also show that the number of travellers living in County Longford rose by nearly 40pc to 1,049 – an increase of 296 on the number in the last census carried out in 2011.

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In Co. Roscommon the number of travellers increased by almost 35pc during the same period, up to 514 from 381 in 2011.

There was a drop of 20pc in the number of travellers living in County Leitrim from 264 six years ago to 211 last year.

The CSO has also reported those who indicated a White Irish ethnic background was just over 87pc in Roscommon, nearly 85pc in Leitrim and 77pc in Longford.

Meanwhile this region has recorded a higher than national average of those citing Catholicism as their religion with 86pc in Roscommon, 84pc in Longford and 83pc in Longford.

While the national figure showed a decline for the first time in five decades of 132,000 according to CSO statistician Eileen Murphy.